No Fragments Archive 10: Diskmags/nf_archive_10.iso/MAGS/ST_USER/1993/USERJN93.MSA/SLKM31_SILKMOUS.DOC

Text File | 1993-04-20 | 12KB | 244 lines

    Doc file for SilkMouse 3.0
    Copyright (c) 1993 Mark Slagell
    SilkWare, 609 Church Street, St. Johns MI 48879


    SILKMOUSE 3.0 at a glance:
    ==========================

  ... has a uniquely smooth, fast, well-behaved mouse accelerator
  ... has a screen saver that won't intrude on your work
  ... compensates for a hardware bug in Atari keyboards
  ... allows you to freeze the screen after applications when needed
  ... installs from a small program in the AUTO folder
  ... can be customized from the desktop or the accessory menu
  ... runs on any Atari ST, STe, or TT computer.


    How to install SilkMouse
    ========================

 If you are currently using a mouse accelerator or screen saver, remove or
 disable it.  Copy SILKMOUS.PRG to your AUTO folder.

 Optionally, you can also install the SMC utility.  It is supplied here in
 two forms, accessory and CPX module.  The accessory can be renamed with a
 .PRG extender and run from the desktop if desired.  SMC allows you to
 enable or disable each feature of SilkMouse, and to generally tweak the
 whole thing to your taste.  But its use is not essential.

 Reboot, and SilkMouse will install.


    Mouse accelerator feature
    =========================

 SilkMouse "accelerates" the mouse in a radically different fashion from
 all other mouse accelerators.  The design objective was never acceleration
 as such, but resolution-independence, i.e., uniformity of response in all
 resolutions.  To achieve this, SilkMouse establishes a distance-to-
 distance relationship between mouse movement and pointer movement, whereas
 you are used to (and, I assure you, subliminally frustrated by) a
 distance-to-pixels relationship.  Acceleration is a natural by-product.

 Also, the Alt-arrow keys get along better with SilkMouse than with other
 accelerators.

 It's important to take some time to get used to the feel of SilkMouse.  At
 first it may seem too fast, even if you are used to another accelerator;
 this only means you are working too hard.  Because SilkMouse is not
 inherently jerky, and because it does not distort the mouse pointer's
 angle of motion as other accelerators do, you will quickly learn the
 correct gentle motions to reliably get the pointer where you want it
 without backtracking.

 What, you never noticed your old mouse accelerator distorting the angle of
 mouse motion?  Using almost any other accelerator, try moving the mouse
 diagonally at a moderate speed, or in rapid circles; you'll see.  The
 traditional acceleration method discourages diagonal motion by sharply
 bending the pointer trajectory parallel to one axis or the other.  Among
 true mouse accelerators (as opposed to doublers), only SilkMouse is
 entirely free from that effect.


    Screen saver feature
    ====================

 SilkMouse's screen saver is not meant to entertain you, or to frustrate
 you, but to extend the useful life of your monitor without unexpectedly
 blanking the display while you're looking at it.

 When a predefined time has elapsed with no input from mouse or keyboard
 (or, optionally, modem), the display inverts and goes to half intensity.
 For example, black text on a white background becomes gray text on a black
 background.  The screen remains in this state for an interval that is some
 multiple of the original delay, then goes black.  At any time, bumping the
 mouse or pressing any key restores the original display.

 The invert/dim algorithm is really the best for your monitor, as it
 assures even use of all areas of the screen and prevents burn-in.  It's
 best for your convenience too; even after protection begins, information
 on the screen remains visible for some time.

 When in mono mode, the timing pattern is as described above, but only
 inversions occur; the screen does not go blank.  There is no safe way in
 software to dim or blank the mono screen, without stealing memory from
 your applications.

 Note: On a TT, "ST high" resolution is color, not mono.


    Function key guard feature
    ==========================

 All Atari computers manufactured to date (at least, the ones I've used)
 have a problem in the keyboard.  It happens when a shift key is held down
 and two other adjacent keys are pressed at about the same time.  The
 keyboard will in that case sometimes erroneously report a shift-F1 or
 shift-F3, in addition to one or both of the keys actually pressed.  If
 you've never noticed, it's because you are an exceptionally careful
 typist, or because none of your programs does anything interesting when
 you press shift-F1 or shift- F3 anyway.  But it is a problem for a number
 of people.  The keyguard feature of SilkMouse effectively cures the
 glitch.

 This feature must be turned on with the SMC utility in order to work; it
 is off by default because of possible conflicts with key-macro utilities.
 Such conflicts can also often be resolved by changing the order in which
 your AUTO programs run.


    Hold-screen option
    ==================

 The main use of this feature is for reading the screen output of a program
 run from the desktop, when that program was designed to run from a command
 line shell.

 You know the feeling.  You run an unfamiliar program, it prints a screen
 full of something which immediately disappears, and you're back at the
 desktop.  You wonder if there's a command line option you can send to make
 the program wait for a keypress before exiting, but of course that's part
 of the information you're not fast enough to read!  So you run it over and
 over, vainly trying to freeze the screen by hitting control-S or alt-Help
 at just the right millisecond.  (Am I the only one who's done this dance?)

 If the hold-screen option of SilkMouse is enabled, each application checks
 the status of the right mouse button when terminating.  If it is not being
 pressed, the application exits normally; otherwise the screen locks until
 you release it.  If both buttons are down, you can release them and the
 screen remains locked till you click with the right button.

 Like the function key guard, this feature must be turned on with the SMC
 utility to work.  Also, it is effective only after all AUTO programs have
 run and all accessories have loaded.


    More about the SMC utility
    ==========================

 You may customize and control SilkMouse in any of the following three
 ways, depending on your needs:

 1: Use SMC.CPX with Atari's extended control panel, or
 2: Install SMC.ACC as a resident accessory, or
 3: Rename SMC.ACC to SMC.PRG and run it from the desktop.

 The old version 2.6 SMC utility contained lots of help information.  That
 information has now been removed and placed in this text file, to keep
 file sizes smaller and to do better justice to the explanations.

 Since the acceleration method used by SilkMouse is fairly non-intuitive,
 its configuration options need some explaining.  There is no table of
 distances to fill in, and no simple slow/fast adjustment.  It may help
 your understanding somewhat to think of a three-speed transmission
 designed to run in the middle gear most of the time.  SilkMouse can
 differentiate between much lower physical mouse speeds than any other
 accelerator; that capability makes for almost imperceptibly smooth shifts,
 higher overall acceleration, and better control.  What can be adjusted
 under this scheme are the physical mouse speeds assigned to the shift
 points, and to some extent, the gear ratios.

 ** I recommend leaving the following adjustments at or near their
 defaults, at least until you are used to the feel of the accelerator.
 Remember, resolution compensation is automatic in SilkMouse, so there is
 no need to change these settings when you change resolutions.

 Top gear sensitivity: the physical speed at which we shift from second
 gear into third.  [C] is the default setting; [D] is a little quicker.  If
 you choose [A], top gear is effectively disabled.

 Top gear ratio: how fast third gear is relative to second.  This is not
 the _absolute_ acceleration ratio for top gear, because second gear's
 ratio varies with screen resolution.  This default setting of [x2.5] is
 sufficient to allow you to generally cover the screen without having to
 move the heel of your hand.  Higher ratios diminish smoothness.  This is a
 new adjustment.  Previously only [x2.0] was used.

 Middle gear sensitivity: the shift point for first gear into second.  The
 default setting is [3].  If you do lots of detailed free-hand drawing you
 may prefer a lower setting; if you work only with text and/or icons you
 may want it higher.

 Resolution correction limit: in very high-resolution graphics modes
 (beyond 640x400), this enhances small-scale mouse control somewhat at the
 expense of resolution-independence.  It is on by default, [x2]; when it is
 on, TT users may want to experiment with the top gear adjustments for
 better screen coverage.  In the ST graphics modes this has no effect.

 The following adjustments apply to the screen saver.

 Initial delay: how long the saver waits before taking effect, in minutes.
 With every input from the keyboard or mouse, this timer is reset.

 Dim time factor: how long, relative to the initial delay time, the screen
 stays in its dimmed state before going blank.  For example, if the saver
 were set to 10 minutes initial delay and [x2] dim time factor, the display
 would invert and dim after 10 minutes of no input, and stay that way for
 the next 20 minutes before going black.  (In mono, the screen would invert
 after 10 minutes, again after 20 more minutes, and again each 10 minutes
 thereafter.)

 Watch modem condition: determines whether, and how, signals from the RS232
 port are acted upon by the screen saver.  If "off", all serial input is
 ignored.  If set to "port", all signals from RS232 and MIDI restore the
 screen and reset the saver clock, just as if you had pressed a key.  The
 "buffer" setting watches the system's serial input buffer but not MIDI;
 the price of such selectiveness is insensitivity in the presence of
 anything that sets up a custom serial input buffer (as some terminal
 programs do), so the "port" setting is generally better to use.

 Revisions to SILKMOUS.PRG within a given version are identified with a
 letter suffix: e.g., under SilkMouse version 2.6, revisions 2.6a and 2.6c
 were released.  Such revisions are only for fixing bugs and resolving
 conflicts that I hear about.  The SMC utility for any version works with
 all of its lettered revisions.  So, there may in the future be revisions
 3.0a, 3.0b, etc. of SILKMOUS.PRG; the SMC utility in this package, and the
 save-enabled version of the same which is supplied to all registered
 users, will work with those revisions.


    Registration
    ============

 If you register SilkMouse 3.0 by sending $10 to the address at the top of
 this document, you will be sent versions of SMC that allow you to save
 your settings so they will be the way you want the next time you boot.
 Unregistered users have control over all aspects of the program, the only
 limitation being that it reverts to original defaults with each boot.

 If you have registered SilkMouse in the past, you are entitled to an
 upgrade.  I am distributing a program to upgrade your registered SMC files
 from version 2.6 to 3.0.  If that is not available where you got this, or
 your registration applies to an earlier version, the registered SMC files
 can be mailed to you: with your request, please send $2 to defray the cost
 of materials and postage.

 SilkMouse may be freely distributed as long as SMC.CPX, SMC.ACC and this
 text file are included and unaltered.

 I can be reached at the address given at the top of this document, and
 online as M.SLAGELL on GEnie.  Latest versions of SilkWare products may
 generally be obtained from the GEnie software library, and from Suzy B's
 Software (voice 716-298-1986).